Sonic Madness
by The Luminoth
Summary: Recent events in Eggman's history have driven him to create another new machine to try to wreak havoc with. The twist: it's a nuclear WMD, intended to destroy the world! Drama unfolds as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles try to stop Eggman. R&R please.
1. An Unexpected Twist

Disclaimer: ©1990-2005 Sega Corporation. All rights reserved. Sonic The Hedgehog and their respective logos are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of Sega of America in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Sega of America expressly disclaims any obligation, responsibility, and/or liability with respect to any content or accuracy of information contained in this story.

HA! Sega's official disclaimer! Beat that!

IMPORTANT NOTE:This story was removed once for grammar errors which, upon rereading (and re-spellchecking) the story, I found were nonexistant. The closest thing I found was when MS Word's spellchecker got mad at me for using 'Knuckles' with a singular verb; Word contended that I should use a plural verb, since 'Knuckles' is, under normal circumstances, a plural noun. Despite this, it's a proper name in this context, and so deserves a singular verb.

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Twist

Sonic and friends are having a fun day relaxing at the beach when an odd thought crossed Sonic's mind.

"You know," Sonic began, "we haven't seen much of that Egghead in a while."

"It is strange, now that you mention it," Tails added.

Knuckles was less worried. "I'm sure he won't be back in a while."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Sonic answered.

Meanwhile, in an underground base, Eggman was called into a dark chamber by a shadowy figure.

"Yes, Master?" Eggman asked.

"Ivo, you have been a disappointment to me lately."

"What do you mean?"

"Last time I saw you, you were teaming up with that hedgehog! That's sickening!"

"If I hadn't partnered up with Sonic, the world may have been destroyed!"

"Do you think that is of any consequence to me? And besides, whose fault is it but yours that your creation backfired and threatened your safety?"

"Do you want me to come up with a new plan?"

"I think I've had enough of your plans. Come here, E-123."

Omega, now returned to his evil roots, entered the room. "Yes, Master?"

"Dispose of this failure."

Eggman protested. "What? What do you think you're doing? I'm you're grandson!"

The shadowy master walked out of the darkness, revealing his identity to be that of Professor Gerald Robotnik. "That is of no consequence to me either. My own granddaughter failed me and allowed that hedgehog to become weak, so I arranged for her death. I hoped my greatest creation would avenge her failure, but he became soft at her memory and failed me as well, so I cut him off from the Chaos Emeralds to teach him a lesson. What makes you any different?"

"I SAVED YOUR LIFE! I was the one responsible for creating the robotic double of you, I was the one responsible for smuggling you out of prison, and I was the one responsible for creating the life-support system that keeps you alive to this day! I should mean more to you than that cruel hedgehog effigy or Maria ever did!"

"DON'T MENTION HER NAME AROUND ME! OMEGA, DISPOSE OF HIM IMMEDIATELY!"

Eggman could only grin as he put his hand into his pocket and pressed a button on a concealed remote control. Omega's red eyes turned blue and he stopped in his tracks.

"OMEGA, PROCEED!" Gerald yelled, still furious.

"It won't work. Omega will only listen to me now, and if you're wise, you will as well."

"NEVER!"

"Then die. Omega, do me a favor and purge my grandfather from this room."

Omega turned towards Gerald, then towards the life-support unit in the corner of the room, walked to it, and shut it down. Without support, Gerald collapsed to the floor, dead.

"Well, it's about time I got started on a new plan to ravage this world and build my empire in its place. But those Chaos Emeralds have constantly been my downfall. I think I'll make a nuclear device. That should cause sufficient destruction."

And so the ultimate plot for world domination began…


	2. Forest Terror

Chapter 2: Forest Terror

Still at the beach, Sonic was surprised when a package with a parachute attached dropped into his lap. Picking it up and opening it, Sonic found a monitor. He pressed the power button and was greeted by Eggman's face, which threatened Sonic with a message of disaster.

"Hello, Sonic. I hope you've missed me; but I digress. As you may have expected, a simple partnership will not silence me. I am currently in the process of building a nuclear device powerful enough to destroy the world, and I sent this to you to warn you of your impending doom. Tell this to as many people as you can, so they can prepare pointlessly."

Sonic stared in shock at the monitor. He knew that Eggman was insane, but this was too psychotic. Not even Eggman would threaten the world's existence, even if it were only out of love for him. Eggman must be acting on some built-up emotions or something. Sonic looked up when he heard a distant scream.

"Sonic, it's Eggman!" Tails exclaimed.

Eggman flew toward Sonic in his traditional hovercraft with something pink in a claw beneath it. That something pink was Amy!

"Eggman, what do you think you're doing?" Sonic questioned.

"I found her looking for you, so I'm only ensuring my safety by taking something of yours. If you even try to attack me, I can assure you that she will die."

Sonic fought hard to control the rising urge to destroy Eggman. Normally he wouldn't take such a threat seriously, but after the way Eggman acted in the video, Sonic wasn't prepared to take any chances.

"Want me to take him down?" Knuckles asked.

"Knuckles, don't do anything. He's got Amy, and he's prepared to kill!"

"Come on, Sonic, he hasn't got it in him!"

"Knuckles, don't!"

"Damnit, Sonic, he's vulnerable, and you're telling me not to attack because he's captured your stalker?"

"Knuckles, you don't understand, he's—" Sonic tried to stop Knuckles, but it was too late. Knuckles was in the middle of an attack. As Knuckles drew nearer, the claws tightened around Amy, cutting off her breath, then opened, causing her to fall to the beach below. She hit ground with a sickening crack. Knuckles saw this and dropped safely to the ground. Sonic rushed toward Amy. She was unconscious.

"Eggman, you come back here!" Sonic yelled. But it was no use. Eggman fled toward the woods to the north. Sonic looked back to Amy. She was still unconscious. Knuckles and Tails ran toward Sonic. Knuckles was shocked. "I'm sorry, Sonic, but I don't know what the hell got into Eggman back there. He's never been like this before." Sonic was silent. Tails offered some help. "I can get the Tornado and fly Amy to the hospital."

"That would be good."

"Alright. Stay here until I come back."

Not long after, Tails came back in the Tornado. Sonic sat on the wing, holding Amy carefully in his arms to avoid hurting her more. Tails instructed Knuckles. "Knuckles, go to my house. Sonic and I will catch up with you." Tails converted the Tornado into car mode, not complete with a back seat. Sonic sat Amy carefully in the empty seat and told Tails that he could run to keep up. Tails drove and Sonic ran to the hospital. Sonic took Amy and ran into the emergency drop-off, where he was instructed to wait outside for a few minutes. After ten minutes, he was called in.

"Can you tell us exactly what happened to your friend?" A doctor asked.

Sonic didn't want to draw attention or cause panic, so he invented a story. "Amy was parasailing when a harness came loose and she fell to the ground. We got her here as quickly as possible. Do you think she'll be alright?"

"Well," the doctor answered, "she took a nasty fall and broke a couple bones, but she should be alright. Do you want to see her?"

"No thanks, I really have to get going. Someone else might be in an even worse situation. If she comes to, can you tell her I was here?"

"We'll tell her that. Now you get going."

Sonic left and returned to Tails. "So, what now?"

"We need to get back to my house. I have something that could be of assistance."

Tails converted the Tornado back into plane mode and Sonic hopped onto the wing. They took off for Tails' house, and arrived to see an impatient Knuckles waiting at the door.

"You guys are finally back. What took you?" Knuckles asked slyly.

"Eh, just shut up Knux, Tails said that there's something here to help us out."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'Knux'?"

Tails intervened. "Guys, stop! This is important!" Sonic and Knuckles gave Tails their attention. "I brought you here because I have to give you these belts." Tails took out three belts, one yellow, one blue, and one red. "If we wear these, every robot that we destroy will give us a bit of energy. That energy will help us strengthen our attacks. Plus, the belts are colored to be inconspicuous, so Eggman won't know we're using them."

"Is that it?" Sonic asked, putting on the blue belt.

"Yes. Now let's go! I saw Eggman escape in the direction of the Ancient Forest, and if you hop on the Tornado's wings, I can fly us there."

"Isn't that where that ancient civilization built all of those wooden machines?"

"Yeah, that's the place. Eggman probably engineered the machines to attack us, so be careful."

Sonic and Knuckles hopped on the Tornado's wings and took off for the forest, where Eggman waited to ambush them.

When Sonic and Tails got to the forest, they were greeted by a mass of conveyor belts, ramps, and tree-mounted teleporters. "Let's split up. If anyone finds Eggman, give a holler and we'll meet up with you," Tails suggested. Sonic hopped on the nearest conveyor belt, Tails flew to the treetops, and Knuckles entered the nearest teleporter.

Sonic was reminded of some adventure that never happened as he trudged through the forest floor, running across conveyor belts and dodging log traps. Somehow the forest reminded him of Eggman's metropolis base from which he launched the Death Egg for the first time. At the same time, Sonic looked to the tiny footholds above his head and was reminded of the scrap factory where Sonic first forced Eggman into hiding. The path, though, was relatively safe—or so Sonic thought until he practically collided into an Egg Prison. Sonic saw the animals inside and how they urged to be free, but his prison break was interrupted by Eggman's arrival. This time Eggman had a large axe swinging freely from his hovercraft. Sonic called for help.

Knuckles was taken by the transporter to a series of tiny platforms connected to trees. He could try running across, but there was too much chance of falling down to the forest below. The pathway was too long for Knuckles to simply glide across. Then Knuckles remembered his belt. Tails said that destroying enemies would power it, and as if on cue, a robotic bee flew just above Knuckles' head. He climbed the tree it was heading towards and ambushed it from the air. Knuckles felt the belt vibrate and tried to glide. He didn't lose any altitude at all for almost a minute, and by then he had crossed the entire set of platforms. Knuckles heard a yell from below him. He knew that Sonic found something.

Tails flew to the top of a tree, where he could see his way to the edge of the forest. He could also see that an army of robots would try to stop him from getting there. Tails destroyed them, one by one, then, feeling the power surging within his belt, pressed a concealed discharge button, destroying all of the enemies he could see. Tails then heard a yell from the forest and looked down through a clearing, seeing that Sonic and Knuckles were trying to fight off a mad, axe-swinging Eggman. Tails dropped through the leaves and caught up with them.

Eggman was attacking furiously, but he knew that it was no use. He was outnumbered, two to one. Out of nowhere, his windscreen cracked as Tails planted his foot into it. Eggman had not seen this coming. "You haven't seen the last of me!" Eggman shouted as he flew away. Sonic and Knuckles thanked Tails. "Good timing there, Tails. That was great!"

"Sonic," Tails replied, "there's no time! Eggman is escaping for the casino city!"

Join us next time as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles race for pinball panic in the casino city—some have bet their life away there, and one of our heroes might just lose theirs!


	3. Pinball Panic

Chapter 3: Pinball Panic

The casino was nearby, so Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles could easily run to it. The lights flashed brightly as they entered in the direction they saw Eggman flee in.

"Wow, this place sure is bright!" Sonic commented.

"Yeah. I hope it's not a distraction." Tails replied.

Then, the three of them stopped suddenly. "I hope that isn't," Knuckles said, "what I think it is…"

They all looked out in front of them to see three giant pinball machines. "Talk about déjà vu…" Sonic again commented. The giant machines were nearly identical to the ones that our heroes had encountered numerous times before, in everywhere from the Night Casino to the Casino Park. No one knew why every casino in the nearby area felt the need to have a giant pinball table to the right of the slot machines, three feet south of the blackjack tables, but they all did. Sonic looked to his right and saw a chute marked "Pinball Entrance". Tails and Knuckles saw similar chutes in two other locations. Each one corresponded to one of the giant tables.

"Look down there! An exit!" Tails pointed out. At the center of each table was an opening large enough for any of them to fit through. With the knowledge of that exit, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles each hopped into a separate chute. The pinball madness began!

Sonic got out of his machine quickly; then again, it was predictable, given the amount of experience he had with these things. Sonic flew out of the entrance tube onto the left flipper. Catching himself quickly, Sonic launched himself from the flipper and bounced off of a bumper, sending him back to his starting point. _I'm going to have to do better than that_, Sonic thought to himself. Another better-aimed shot sent Sonic straight up to the ledge in front of the exit.

Tails was having a fairly easy time of it as well. He made the same starting mistake as Sonic, and then launched himself into a giant slot machine. The reels landed on bells, giving Tails twenty giant gold rings. _That's weird…no Sonic faces_, Tails commented internally about the relatively realistic appearance of the slots in this casino. Despite his luck, though, Tails failed to notice that he was directly over the pit at the center of the table! About to fall to his doom, Tails remembered that he could fly even further with his belt and the Rings he just got as an alternate power source. He used this and carried himself up out of the pit. Further making use of his signature move Tails flew to the exit and greeted Sonic outside.

Knuckles was not having a good time at all. He was relatively new to the "living pinball" experience and was set off even further by the lack of a flat wall, meaning that no amount of well-timed gliding and climbing would save him. Three shots sent him into the bumpers, and a fourth shot him to the ceiling. Doing nothing but rapid-fire flipper launching, Knuckles was a bit shocked when he slowed down drastically and flew right up into the exit. Realizing that Tails was carrying him, Knuckles was somewhat relieved.

"I can see you're new to this," Tails explained.

"Thanks…" Knuckles replied dryly.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails are safe for the time, but for a brief second, Sonic's thoughts turned to Amy. How was she holding up? He couldn't know, but you can thanks to the power of dramatic irony.

At the hospital, Amy was slowly recovering. She woke up with a start, thinking she was still at the beach.

"Eggman, you let me go right now!" she screamed.

A doctor heard this and rushed into the room. He was relieved to see that Amy was fine as soon as she realized that she was in the hospital. Despite this comfort, she started screaming again.

"Everyone watch out for Eggman! He captured me before this! He said something about a nuclear bomb! Make shelters! Do something!" Amy yelled frantically.

Everyone looked at her like she had two heads. "Eggman?" the doctor inquired. "I think that parasailing accident messed with your head…"

"Parasailing accident? That's not what happened!" Amy protested.

"Well, that's what your friend said when he brought you in, anyway," the doctor replied.

"Friend?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, he was a blue hedgehog about your size. He was pretty worried."

"Sonic! He does care for me! He must have avoided mentioning Eggman to avoid panic!"

"I think you just took too hard a hit on the head. I'm sure you'll remember the parasailing accident after you rest a bit. Now go back to the room and sleep. It'll be good for you."

"What? But Eggman's going to attack! Don't you believe me?"

"Just sleep for a while and you'll be fine."

Amy growled and went back to the room.

Without realizing it, Sonic started talking to himself. "Man, I hope she's alright…"

"Sonic, are you still worried about Amy?" Knuckles asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, that…I'll be fine."

The three of them continued to find Eggman waiting at the top of a large pipe structure. "Well, how unpleasant of you to drop in…" he said. " But unfortunately, one of you will have to drop out!" Eggman pressed a button on his control panel and the floor collapsed under Tails. He fell into the hole; neither Sonic nor Knuckles could see where it ended. Sonic was shocked into submission. "WHAT? Tails?" Sonic called desperately into the gap, but he got no reply. He knew, even though he didn't want to admit it, that not even perfectly times flying could have let Tails escape that one. Knuckles was shocked too, but he was able to do what he did best: turn his anger into pure rage. "WHY YOU! THAT'S NOT FIGHTING FAIR! I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THAT!"

In a fit of rage, Knuckles stormed the structure. Eggman dropped a bomb from his hovercraft into one of the tubes. It flew straight at Knuckles. Knuckles fell backwards from the hit, but when the smoke cleared, it was too late for Eggman this time. Knuckles planted a huge fist into the glass of Eggman's ship. Eggman fled with a broken windshield and several bleeding wounds. In his haste, he dropped two Chaos Emeralds. _That's weird_, Knuckles thought. _Eggman wasn't using Chaos Emeralds this time. Well, at least we have them now._

Sonic was still in shock. He looked down into the unnatural fissure as far as he could, but saw no sign of anything. Knuckles called him. "Sonic, let's go! I'm sure Tails will be fine!"

"Shut up Knuckles! You're just saying that and you know it!"

"Sonic, listen—"

"No, you listen! I've lost at least one, maybe even two of my closest friends today and you're telling me to just come along like nothing ever happened?"

"Sonic, as much as you want to feel sorry for yourself, there won't be a 'you' to feel sorry for anymore if you don't move your ass and help me! Eggman is trying to destroy the world! We can't afford to have you sitting around pitying yourself!"

Sonic didn't respond.

"Sonic, listen. I know, as hard as it is to admit, that I can't do this on my own. Unless you want to die, follow me so we can beat Eggman!"

Still, Sonic was unmoved. In a last ditch attempt to bring Sonic back to life, Knuckles tried to give one of his best mental abilities to Sonic.

"Alright, I've tried hard enough to bring you back, but don't get up—at least, not for my sake. Do it for Eggman. Wouldn't you just like to destroy him now after all he's done to you? I know this won't help Tails and Amy any, but if you destroy Eggman, then he won't be around to hurt any of your other friends."

The look of anguish on Sonic's face turned into a look of pure anger and hate. "You're right. I will destroy Eggman, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop me. You in?"

"That's what I've been asking you for the last ten minutes! Now let's go! I saw Eggman escape toward Lava Mountain!"

As Sonic and Knuckles trudged toward Lava Mountain with a new sense of vengeance, a gloved hand struggled to grip the side of a deep chasm.


End file.
